Bonus payments and AVC

Tenenbaum

Hi folks,

It's bonus time at work and I've been lucky enough to get something this year. I was informed of the figure earlier this week and it will be in this months pay.

What I usually do is put my bonus into my pension after I find out what the figure is. This has worked well in previous years when we are usually told in mid-March what our figure is with the AVC lump sum deadline being 1st April.

However, I didn't have visibility of the bonus figure until after the AVC deadline and as such, none of my bonus payment has went into my pension.

Is there anything I can do here? I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to reduce my tax burden and maximise my pension payments.

dunstonh

When you say AVC are you referring to AVC as a product type?   (AVCs stands for an additional voluntary contribution pension that is typically used with defined benefit pensions).   Sometimes people incorrectly use the term to refer to a contribution rather than the plan type (which would just be a top up).

Is there anything I can do here? I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to reduce my tax burden and maximise my pension payments.

Is your salary and bonus big enough to use carry forward?
Do you use salary sacrifice for the bonus?

Tenenbaum

dunstonh said:

When you say AVC are you referring to AVC as a product type?   (AVCs stands for an additional voluntary contribution pension that is typically used with defined benefit pensions).   Sometimes people incorrectly use the term to refer to a contribution rather than the plan type (which would just be a top up).

Is there anything I can do here? I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to reduce my tax burden and maximise my pension payments.

Is your salary and bonus big enough to use carry forward?
Do you use salary sacrifice for the bonus?

Apologies for the lack of clarity.
I have a workplace pension. Employer doubles my monthly payment. I pay an additional couple of % monthly via salary sacrifice. At bonus time we can make a one off additional voluntary contribution to the pension scheme. 

It is this one-off additional voluntary contribution that is the issue. I would usually make a lump sum payment for a large chunk of my bonus depending on its value. However, in this case I was not aware of its value until after the AVC lump sum deadline.


"Carry forward". I don't quite understand this?

Marcon

Carry forward: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/tax-and-pensions/carry-forward

Tenenbaum

Marcon said:

Carry forward: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/tax-and-pensions/carry-forward

thank you. Appreciate it.